Where is Paul Holthaus? The investigative journalist Rommy Kirchhoff, together with his son Max, is looking for the disappeared lobbyist Paul Holthaus, who has negotiated several times in Cape Town on behalf of Lilian Norgren for their agricultural corporation Norgreen Life. Norgren makes it clear to Rommy that the search for the whistleblower is unwanted and puts her and the boy in danger.

On a Berlin construction site, the former editor-in-chief Karin and her journalist Rommy happens to witness a fatal accident. From Taras, the accident victim's brother, they learn that this is not an isolated coincidence: The Eastern European workers who toil on the construction site for cheap wages have to do their day's work under the most precarious conditions and beyond give a large part of their wages to shady "intermediaries".

Journalist Rommy Kirchhoff wants to interview a whistle-blower. Paul Holthaus, lobbyist on behalf of the agricultural company Norgreen Life Inc., is ready to report on the background negotiations on TTIP. But as soon as the explosive interview begins, Rommy is overwhelmed. When she regains consciousness, there is no trace of the informant. Rommy realizes she has entered a story of unprecedented proportions.